Voyage
|category = |type = Wooden Rollercoaster|status = Operating|Date of Opening = May 6, 2006|Date of Closing = |Ride Time = 2:45|highest speed = 67.4 mph|highest hill = 163 feet|largest drop = 154 feet|amount of inversions = 0|amount of incidents = 0|rating grade = 100% - A+|theme park = Holiday World & Splashin' Safari|image location = Voyage-lift-hill.jpg|image caption = The lift hill of the Voyage. The lift hill is the sixth-tallest for a wood rollercoaster in the world at 163 ft.}} The Voyage is a rollercoaster located at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. The Voyage was developed from 2002-2005 and was opened on May 6, 2006. The Voyage is themed after the famous voyage made by the Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. The Voyage was designed and built by The Gravity Group with the help of designers Mike Graham, Korey Kiepert, Larry Bill, Chad Miller, and former park President Will Koch for the 60th anniversary of the park's opening in 1946. The Voyage also was the first ride to be added in the Thanksgiving section of the park, which was also added for the 60th anniversary of the park. The Voyage holds the record for most air-time on a wooden roller coaster at 24.3 seconds. It is also ranked sixth overall in height and second in length (behind only The Beast at Kings Island). In 2006, it won a Golden Ticket Award for "Best New Ride" from Amusement Today magazine, which also ranked The Voyage as the "Best Wooden Roller Coaster" from 2007 through 2011. History Development To celebrate Holiday World's sixtieth anniversary, park President Will Koch made plans for a new holiday that was to be added to the park. The new holiday, Thanksgiving, would also feature a wooden roller coaster, The Voyage, as its anchor attraction. Koch contacted The Gravity Group (Custom Coasters International, the designers of The Raven and The Legend, went bankrupt in 2002. Larry Bill, one of the designers, went on to help form The Gravity Group) and began to form plans for the new roller coaster. As with the development of The Legend, Koch wanted the input of roller coaster enthusiasts from around the world. The Gravity Group, through Will Koch, used this enthusiast input to design the one-of-a-kind ride. Park President Will Koch provided so much input, he was actually listed as one of the designers of the ride. During the construction of The Voyage, producers from the National Geographic Channel's "SuperCoasters" and the Discovery Channel's "Building the Biggest: Coasters" visited the park to document the progress.http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2006/05/25/voyage-brings-national-spotlight/ The Voyage opened on May 6, 2006. When the roller coaster opened, it operated with three 28-passenger trains made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company; trains made by this company are predominantly called "PTC" trains. The twenty-eight seats on the ceremonial first train were auctioned off on eBay. The proceeds from the auctions were donated to Riley Children's Foundation, which supports the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana. Modifications For the 2010 season, Holiday World had initially planned on replacing their trains made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in favor of two new trains, called Timberliners, made by Gravitykraft, a sister company of The Gravity Group. In order to make room for the new trains, Holiday World sold two six-car trains out of its three seven-car trains to Darien Lake for use on The Predator roller coaster. However, when the new Timberliner trains finally arrived, there was not enough time to test them and get the trains operational before the season began. Left with only one seven-car train on The Voyage, the park decided to take one of the six-car trains from The Raven and modify it for use on The Voyage. Due to the differences in length, 2,800 feet (850 m) on The Raven versus 6,442 feet (1,964 m) on The Voyage, the park determined that The Voyage needed the second train much more than The Raven did. For the remainder of the season, The Voyage operated with both a red, six-car PTC train and a blue, six-car PTC train. In turn, The Raven operated the rest of the 2010 season with only one train. The park pushed its plans to introduce the Timberliner trains back until the 2011 season. For the 2011 season, Holiday World opted to continue to use PTC trains on The Voyage while other parks used the initial Timberliner model that was tested at the park during the 2010 season. In order to return capacity on The Raven to its normal level, Holiday World purchased an additional five PTC cars to create a train for The Voyage so The Raven's train could be returned. Darien Lake had bought only twelve of the fourteen cars for sale, leaving The Voyage with a full seven-car train plus two additional cars. This would allow the park to run two seven-car trains on The Voyage and two six-car trains on The Raven. Holiday World planned on introducing the most up-to-date model of the Timberliner trains for use on The Voyage for the start of the 2012 season. In 2012, Holiday World initially announced plans to have new Timberliner trains ready and operating for the 2012 season. However, the park stated that because the new trains would not be delivered in time for pre-opening testing, they would not be ready in time for the 2012 season. The park now plans on having the Timberliner trains operating by the beginning of the 2013 season. In addition to routine track work, Holiday World, in conjunction with the Gravity Group, rebuilt and reprofiled portions of the ride's turn around, which is commonly referred to as the "spaghetti bowl". As a result of the reprofiled turn, an additional 0.1 second of air-time was created, bringing the ride's new total to 24.3 seconds of air-time.http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2012/01/14/dan-and-chad-take-walk-voyage/ Ultimately, in 2013, Holiday World decided it would no longer pursue the use of Timberliners on The Voyage. In 2014, Holiday World went from using two 28-passenger trains to two 24-passenger trains on The Voyage.http://www.holidayworld.com/rides/the-voyage/ For 2015, protective netting was installed over the track where the ride crosses under the exit from Thunderbird's vertical loop. Records and Awards Since 2006, Amusement Today has ranked The Voyage in the top 5 wooden roller coasters each year. From 2007-2011, the roller coaster was ranked at the number-one spot. The Voyage has the most airtime for a wooden roller coaster, at 24.3 seconds. The Voyage also holds other records for the most underground tunnels (5), sixth-fastest wood coaster (67.4 mph), second-longest wood coaster (6,442 ft), sixth-tallest wooden coaster (163 ft), and the seventh-longest wooden coaster drop (154 ft). See also *The Legend *The Raven *Thunderbird References